


A Family Way

by innerslytherin



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-04
Updated: 2010-07-04
Packaged: 2017-10-10 09:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/98213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/innerslytherin/pseuds/innerslytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave thought his life was complete.  Emily had other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Family Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mingsmommy](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Mingsmommy).



> Written in honor of the fabulous [](http://mingsmommy.livejournal.com/profile)[**mingsmommy**](http://mingsmommy.livejournal.com/)'s birthday. Thank you very much to [](http://smacky30.livejournal.com/profile)[**smacky30**](http://smacky30.livejournal.com/) for preliminary beta and hand-holding and to [](http://resolucidity.livejournal.com/profile)[**resolucidity**](http://resolucidity.livejournal.com/) for giving it a final polish. Also, this started as a Tuesday Tweetfic, which is why parts of it will be familiar to you. ;)

Happy birthday, [](http://mingsmommy.livejournal.com/profile)[**mingsmommy**](http://mingsmommy.livejournal.com/)!!!!

"Just a couple more minutes," Emily slurred. Dave grinned. His wife had never been a morning person. He set the coffee on the nightstand and climbed back in bed with her. She grunted sleepily as he snuggled up against her back, wrapping his arms around her.

"I love you," he whispered, brushing his lips against her ear. It still amazed him sometimes that she'd agreed to marry him. He'd anted up the money to get his previous marriages annulled, because it had been important to Emily to be married in the church. Jimmy had been proud of him; Jimmy and Emily had become close, and Jimmy knew how much Emily wanted a family.

"Love you too," Emily mumbled, shifting back against him. Her eyes were still closed and her hair was tickling his nose, but he'd never been more content than at that moment.

***

"Pregnant?" Dave stared at Emily, feeling light-headed. They'd been having a normal dinner, one of Emily's Middle Eastern concoctions that he absolutely loved even though he had no idea what was in them. He'd opened a bottle of wine and it had confused him when she declined a glass. One of the many things he liked about Emily was the way she liked bourbon and beer, but knew how to pick a good wine as well. Suddenly it made a lot more sense that she hadn't taken any.

She bit her lower lip, looking at him with a mixture of trepidation and suppressed excitement. "I just found out for sure this morning. I didn't want to say anything until I went to the doctor."

"How...how..." Dave's mind was spinning. It was stupid. They'd talked about this. They'd quit using birth control six months ago. Somehow he'd just never been sure it was really going to happen.

"Ten weeks," she said, her hand slipping down to rest on her belly. "One missed period I could put down to stress. Two missed periods...I had to find out." Her smile was struggling to escape, but she was still watching him anxiously.

He was gonna be a dad. He was fifty-four and gonna be a dad. It shouldn't be this much of a shock, but it was. And he knew she was going to lose that joyous smile in a minute if he didn't pull himself together. He smiled. "Wow. Well, we'd better get ready."

The smile escaped her entirely and she laughed out loud, then got up so fast she knocked her water glass over. "Oh, shit," she said, but Dave stood up and pulled her into his arms, ignoring the dripping sound as water hit the floor.

"My God, you're a miracle, Emily Prentiss," he whispered, hugging her tightly. "I thought I was out of miracles, you know?"

Her laughter was soft as she squeezed him back. "Not just yet, you're not."

***

They converted one of the guest bedrooms into a nursery. Emily had always told him they didn't need two guest bedrooms even though he had a huge family. As he helped her paint the walls light yellow with green trim, he teased her about that and made her admit it was a good thing they had it.

His brother Pete had taken to amateur woodworking in his semi-retirement from the New York Fire Department, and a month after they made the announcement at Easter dinner, Pete came down to Virginia in a U-Haul. He backed it up the drive to Dave and Emily's house and, grinning, unloaded a handmade crib and changing table. The last thing he got out was a rocking chair that was much older than the other two pieces.

Dave's eyes began stinging as he stared at it. "Petey," he managed, "Nonna's rocker?"

"Eh, Dani and Eric neither one look like they're planning on having kids any time soon," Pete said with a shrug. "I figure you guys can use it more than I can. A Rossi baby oughta be rocked in Nonna's rocking chair."

Emily's tears had overflowed. Her hormones had sent her normal composure right out the window months ago, and Dave had to admit, he sort of missed his compartmentalized wife, even though it was sometimes amusing to see her like this. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "You know how Rossis are," he told her. "Fussy and demanding. Nonna's rocker always made everything better."

She gave a sobby laugh and pulled away to hug Pete tightly. She kissed his cheek and Pete grinned.

They went inside for coffee (or decaf tea in Emily's case) and cookies, and then Pete disappeared to the U-Haul again. When he came back, he was carrying a big box.

"Missy sent this stuff for you. She wanted to come too, but she couldn't get the time off. They've got a big merger going on at work and everyone needs her signature on something." He set the box gently in Emily's lap.

It was full of baby things. There were blankets, some obviously hand-knitted, others bought at the store and edged in silky material. There were about two dozen little burping rags, and a bunch of little jumpsuit things that looked too small to ever fit on a human being.

"Tell Missy she's an angel," Emily said, and buried her face in one of the blankets to hide her tears.

***

One of Em's greatest joys was that Dave rubbed her feet. He knew that, and he loved the look of sheer bliss that took over her face when he did it. She was thirty-nine and Dr. Rimbar said she and the baby were both healthy, but Dave still worried. He knew how much she wanted this, how much longer she'd wanted it than he had. And he surprised himself with how much _he_ wanted it. Originally he'd thought he just wanted it to make her happy. But lately the idea of having a son to throw a ball with or a daughter to teach how to play golf made his heart feel like it was swelling inside him.

So every night when they got home from the BAU, Dave made her relax in the living room while he cooked dinner. And after dinner he rubbed her feet. After a day in boots they were kind of stinky, and they were always swollen these days. But he rubbed them anyway, loving the way her toes curled when he got to the arch of her foot.

She groaned. "I really need to paint my toenails, but it's too hard to bend over any more." It was true, the polish was badly chipped. He loved the way she didn't paint her fingernails but always kept her toes a deep, sexy red.

"I could probably manage it," he said, not looking up at her in case she laughed at him. He didn't know the first thing about nail polish, but how hard could it be to get a little bit of paint on the toenails?

When she didn't respond for several seconds he finally looked up. She was gazing at him with a tender expression. "Do you have any idea how much I adore you?" she whispered. She brushed her fingers against his jaw, then cupped his cheek. "You're so wonderful."

That was how David Rossi came to be painting a second coat of Embers On Fire on Emily's toenails when his cell phone rang. When Hotch asked if he was interrupting anything, Dave just grunted then agreed they would meet at the jet in twenty-five minutes.

Emily would probably be grounded after this case, and Dave tried to talk her out of going, but she insisted. One more case, because she was going to be stuck doing their distance consultations and paperwork for the next six months after this.

Dave never could resist anything Emily wanted. He shrugged and agreed she could go, and didn't even laugh when she complained that they didn't make business suits for pregnant women.

She wore flip-flops to keep her toenails from smearing, and by the time they got to the tarmac, they were running so late that she just wore them onto the jet. Hotch was briefing everyone, but he paused to give Emily a once-over. And the pause lasted long enough that everyone else turned to look too. Finally Aaron said, "You have a steady hand, Dave. I'll remember that next time I paint my apartment."

Dave just glared at Aaron until he went back to the briefing.

***

They hadn't expected the unsub to go to the police station. Dave's interior monologue was stuck on, _Oh shit please God please God oh shit please,_ as he took the SUV around a corner on two wheels. Derek swore and grabbed at the handle, but he didn't say anything, because they both knew damn well that Emily and Reid were back at the station. Hotch and JJ were behind them, not driving quite as recklessly as Dave.

SWAT snipers already had their rifles trained on the unsub's chest, but Kennok had a trigger in his hand. As Dave screeched to a halt he heard someone on the radio say the bomb would detonate if Kennok dropped that trigger.

"Why is it always Emily and Reid?" Morgan muttered. "We gotta stop letting them work together."

Dave couldn't even manage a grunt of acknowledgment. He just headed for where the sheriff had set up command. Dave knew hostage negotiation tactics. Hell, he'd written the book on them, literally. But he couldn't do this. No way in hell could he do this.

He stopped halfway to the command post, his shoulders slumping. He'd lost three wives to his selfishness, egotistical behavior, and stubbornness. He couldn't lose the fourth, the most precious, the mother of his child. And he couldn't lose the baby she carried. He couldn't. He looked up at the building, then turned his face away.

"Please, God," he whispered.

A moment later he felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't turn. Then the hand shifted and an arm went around both shoulders. "Dave. Come on." Hotch's voice was low and calm. "You shouldn't be here."

Dave let Aaron steer him away. "How can I be anywhere else?" he asked, and he knew his voice sounded broken. He thought of Nonna's rocking chair, waiting patiently in the corner of the nursery.

"Derek is good at this," Hotch replied. "And Carol's good too. Let's go get some air."

Dave was sitting on a bench, his elbows on his knees, when the bomb detonated. Later he didn't remember shooting to his feet and racing towards the explosion. His heart felt like it was going to explode in his chest. Before he'd gotten very far, though, Morgan was coming at him, meeting him halfway. Morgan caught his shoulders, then Hotch got an arm across his chest. Dave actually threw a punch before Hotch and Morgan's words registered.

"The bomb squad had to detonate it! It was the bomb squad!"

"Rossi, it's okay, it was--"

"Dave." Her voice, just saying his name, and Dave slumped back against Hotch, feeling so weak in the knees that his friend might actually be holding him up.

Her face was grimy and one cheek was red and swelling, but she was so beautiful, so Goddamn beautiful. Dave pushed a hand against his chest and hoped he wasn't having a heart attack, even though he knew his heart was in perfect condition.

Emily came over and put her arms around him, and all he could do was cling to her while she whispered promises that she was done with field work until after the baby was born.

***

Hotch was calm while Dave paced the waiting room. Em had kicked him out an hour ago. They'd done all right for the first two hours of labor, but when Dave started asking every twenty seconds or so how it was going, Emily had snapped at him that it wasn't going to go any faster just because he asked.

Dave could see the amusement on Morgan and Garcia's faces, but JJ at least looked more sympathetic. Reid wasn't there yet; he and Dave had been out of town on a consultation, and Dave had left him to finish alone as soon as he'd gotten the call.

He wanted to scream. He wondered if Emily would throw something at him if he ducked back inside. The Ambassador was still in there, but then again, she'd had no trouble keeping her mouth shut. She'd given Dave a look of mixed sympathy and amusement when Emily threw him out. But Dave couldn't tamp down his nerves, and he couldn't stand being stuck out here.

He put his head back into the birthing suite, biting his lip hard as Emily gave a gut-wrenching groan. One of the nurses looked up and saw him. She smiled and gestured for him to come in, though she put a finger up to her lips to keep him quiet.

Dave nodded and slipped inside, just as Emily belted out, "Where the hell is Dave? This is all his fault! He can damn well get in here and help out a little!"

The nurse who had beckoned him in said, "I'll go get him," and came over hastily, obviously stifling laughter. Dave nodded and went in. When he got to Emily's side, she grabbed his wrist, her fingers going white with the strength of her grip.

"Hey," he murmured, brushing her hair back from her forehead. "What can I do?"

She squeezed harder. "Shut up and stand there," she ordered.

Forty minutes later the nurse let him cut the umbilical cord and placed a squalling, red-faced baby girl in Emily's arms.

"Cara," Emily murmured. "Cara Elizabeth Rossi."

Dave had never had a better day in his life.

***

Emily was on a case when Cara took her first steps. Fortunately Dave had overcome his technophobia for their daughter's sake. He'd been recording the attempt with their digital camera, and actually captured the first halting steps. One...two...threefourfive and crash! Cara landed on her butt, but she just gazed up at Dave and burst into giggles.

He cheered and clapped for her, and she managed several more incredibly proud steps before she got tired and fell asleep on the living room carpet.

He sent the video to Em's phone as soon as his hands quit shaking from excitement. She texted him back immediately that she was jealous and he'd be making it up to her later. He didn't know why it was his fault Cara had chosen to walk during his rotation at home, but he didn't care, either. He was glad he'd been able to see it.

Besides, he knew exactly how to make it up to Emily, and he knew it would be just as much fun for him as it would for her.

***

When Cara was just over a year old, he woke up early one morning to the sound of Emily being sick. Frowning, he wandered into the bathroom, where she was rinsing her mouth out. Their eyes met in the mirror, and after a moment, she nodded.

"I think so," she said.

Dave wrapped his arms around her, grinning. He'd loved being part of a big, boisterous family, and while Emily was still getting used to his siblings and cousins, she loved them too. They'd been okay with just one child, but two would be better. They would have each other if anything happened to Dave or Emily on the job.

Two was good.

Or three. They'd been astonished when the doctor told them they were having twins, but if two was good, three was better. And on Dave's fifty-sixth birthday he got an unexpected--and three weeks early--present. The twins were fraternal. _A girl and a boy!_ And they'd only picked out boy names. Emily, looking exhausted, hair a bedraggled mess around her face, smiled and gave the little girl his mother's name.

Kathleen and Leo Rossi beamed when they were introduced to Aaron David and Emily Kathleen.

"We'll call her Katie," Emily said, shifting her daughter in her arms. "I hope that's all right with you?"

Kathleen kissed her daughter-in-law's forehead. "What could be better?" she asked. "And I will teach her my secret recipes when she's older."

***

Dave wasn't sure whether to be proud or worried when seven-year-old Cara started informing everyone that she was going to be an FBI agent just like her mom and dad.

He decided on proud the day she told Gramma Elizabeth.

Right there at the dinner table, the Ambassador smiled at Cara and said, "That's an excellent goal. With your mother as a role model, you'll do well."

The happiness on Emily's face was clear for everyone to see.

***

They threw a huge birthday party for Emily's fiftieth birthday.

The whole team was there, except for JJ, who'd been given the assignment of keeping Emily out of their hair for the morning. Garcia finished icing the cake while Hotch and Reid set out finger foods and Morgan arranged the presents.

Dave let the children make decorations and smiled fondly as Cara directed the twins in threading yarn through macaronis and the proper way to color the pasta _before_ rolling it around in the glue. He had an opal pendant and a matching ring and earrings, but he had a feeling their children had him beat in the jewelry department.

Emily was a wonderful mother. She'd managed to balance her work for the FBI and her duties as a mother with more grace and skill than he'd imagined possible. She'd missed a few things, of course, just as Dave had, but one of them had always been there, and if she'd compromised a little on her career, he knew she didn't regret it at all.

"Not like that, silly," Cara said, and Aaron squealed in annoyance.

"Get off it, Cara. Daaaaad!" Dave smoothed a grin off his face and went over to the table, where Cara was trying to move something Aaron had glued down and Aaron was prying at her hand. She was older, but petite, and Aaron was built like Dave, so usually when they tussled, Aaron ended up winning.

"Hey, break it up," Dave said mildly, and they both quit struggling and looked up at him. "Is that your art or your brother's?"

Cara pressed her lips together just like Emily did when she was unhappy. "Aaron's."

"Uh-huh. So let him do it. And Aaron, don't hit your sister."

Aaron's brown eyes widened. "How did you--Dad!"

Dave smirked. "Can't fool your old man, kiddo." He ruffled both dark, curly heads and stood, wincing at the pop of his knees. "Now come on. Your mom and Aunt JJ are going to be back any minute. Is that banner of yours ready to be hung up?"

They got the precisely (if somewhat crooked) lettered banner hung on the wall just in time. JJ honked twice as she pulled into the drive. Katie put aside her book and ran over to stand next to Aaron, all three children looking as full of gleeful anticipation as Dave was. Emily and JJ came in, both of them looking refreshed and relaxed from a morning at the spa.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Emily beamed and exclaimed over the banner and the macaroni necklaces and the art that wasn't quite dry yet. She hugged each child, thanking them and looking as if she were the happiest woman on Earth. Dave loved seeing that expression on her face. He loved the fine little lines next to her eyes that proved he and their children had made her laugh so often. He loved that her hair got tousled by clumsy hugs. He loved knowing that she would put the macaroni necklaces on with Dave's favorite red dress before they went out to dinner tonight.

Then Aunt JJ hustled the kids into the kitchen to wash their hands and the rest of the team subtly wandered off. Emily stood up and slipped her arms around Dave's neck.

"Thank you," she whispered as he brushed his lips against one damp cheek.

"Thank _you_," he replied. "You've made my life complete. I thought you must be one last miracle, but it turned out you're not just a miracle."

"I'm not?" She pulled back and arched an eyebrow at him.

"Nope." He kissed the tip of her nose. "You're a miracle maker."


End file.
